How exercise tells the brain to curb appetite by M.D. Thordis Berger

Hunger is a complex phenomenon. Learn how exercise can help control appetite and how this supports your fitness goals.

Hunger is a complex phenomenon, determined in part by neurons located in the hypothalamus, which send signals to the brain telling it that you're either hungry or sated. Those neurons get their message from hormones, including those called insulin and leptin.

When the body develops a resistance to these messengers, people become more prone to overeating and weight gain (see here 4 reasons why it's hard to lose weight). And scientists have begun to suspect that cellular inflammation might be at least partly responsible for allowing these signals to get out of control.

If you’re looking to lose weight, adding exercise rather than just cutting calories may be the way to go. You can calculate your ideal weight here.

Regular exercise plays an important part in improving leptin resistance and decreasing inflammation.[1]

Several studies have also looked at the effect exercise has on two other hormones thought to control hunger: ghrelin, which stimulates hunger, and peptide YY, which signals satiety and that suppresses appetite.

Apparently, exercise may lower levels of ghrelin, while raising levels of peptide YY .[2][3]Yet, this observation was only made if the workout was intense, but the more intense it was, the longer the benefit seemed to last. Here are the best machines to use for a high-intensity circuit.

However, physical activity may also raise concentrations of longer-term appetite-stimulating hormones like insulin and leptin which lead to refuel the energy our body has used up.[4]

Here's where the frequency of exercise is of importance: it appears to help restore sensitivity to brain neurons that control satiety.[5]In other words, the more you do it, the more in harmony you become with your hunger signals, which may aid in offsetting them.

Besides these results, here are additional reasons and motivation to exercise regularly: Studies have found that intense training, no matter how abbreviated, usually improves aerobic fitness and some markers of health, including blood pressure and insulin sensitivity, as effectively as much longer sessions of moderate exercise.

To summarize, some of the many factors linked to physical activity that may help to control appetite and therefore long-term weight control are: